Press



March 10, 1931.

E. DAVIS GARMENT on momma PRESS Original Filed A ril 9, 192.5

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INVENTOR ERNEST DAV/S BY ms ATTORNEYS ago 1019 Reissuecl Mar. 10, 1931PATENT OFFICE ERNEST DAVIS, OF SYRACUSE. NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THEPROSPERITY COMPANY, INC., OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEWYORK GARMENT OR IRONING PRESS reissue filed November 24,

This invention relates to pressing machines and has for its object aparticularly simple, compact and efficient actuating mechanism for themovable element or press head of the machine'whereby a powerfulactuating mechanism can be located within a comparatively small space orwithin the base of the pressing machine.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations andconstructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in allthe views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a pressing machineembodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of parts seen in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the actuatingmechanism in plan View.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary diagrammatical side elevation of aportion of the actuating mechanism.

This mechanism comprises, generally, a reciprocating prime mover, adriven element and connections between the prime mover and the drivenelement whereby the motion of the prime mover is first increased toeffect a fast and comparatively great movement of the driven element andis thereafter reduced to effect a powerful but short movement of thedriven element upon a long movement of the prime mover.

The actuating mechanism is here shown as embodied in a pressing machineof the type used for pressing clothes and laundry, and the pressingmachine here shown in which my invention is embodied comprises pressingjaws such as a buck 1 and a head 2 movable toward and from the buck, thebuck being mount-ed upon a bracket or goose neck 3 which in turn ismountedupon a base 4 and the head being carried by the forward arm of ayoke or lever 5 pivoted between its endsat 6 to an upright rising fromthe frame and having its other arm T extending into the frameApplication for 1930. Serial No. 497,740.

and connected to the actuating mechanism. Thls lever constitutes thedriven element.

The base 4 is formed hollow and the actu' ating mechanism is locatedtherein and also the base 4 is mountable upon a table or bench 8. Thebase and the construction of the pressing machine, per se, forms no partof this invention but forms the subject matter of another appl cation,the subject matter of this application being the actuating mechanism forthe lever 5 or arm 7.

The prime mover is a reciprocating element as a piston rod 9 connectedto a piston movable in a cylinder 10, the cylinder 10 and the rod 9being here shown as arranged in horizontal position and extendingforwardly and rearwardly in the hollow base l. The connections'betweenthe rod 9 and the driven element or lever 5, which connections lirstincrease the motion of the rod 0 and then reduce it, comprises arotatable member here shown as a gear 11 mountedon asuitablo transversestud or bearing pin 9 at the outer end of the piston rod 9 and a link 12mounted at one end on an eccentric or crank pin 13 on the gear 11 andpivoted at its other end at let to the lower end of the lever 5. Thus,the gear moves reciprocally with the rod 9. hfeans is provided forrolling the gear as a rack 15 meshing with the gear. As here shown.there are two gears mounted on opposite Sides of the piston rod and eachmesh with the rack 15. v I i p a In operation; as best seen in Figure 4,the initial movement of the arm 7 of the lever 5 is greater than themovement of the piston rod during its initial movement, by the fact thatthe eccentricor crank pin 13 is carried during the rolling of the gearforwardly in the same direction as the rod is moving, so that the lever5 partakes of the movement of the rod 9 plus the rolling movement of thegear means 11 and the head 2 is brought down toward the buck 1 quickly.lVhen the head '3 is brought down on the buck. the gear 11 has madesubstantially a half revolution as seen in Figure l and during theremainder of the power stroke of the piston which is comparatively long.the eccentric pin ljl llHJ\'(f iearwardl so that the net moyen'ientadapted to var I the operation 0 the motor means. The result play toafford a higher leverage of the motor the sprin continue to rotateoutwardly of the lever 5 is the differencebetween the movement of therod 9 and the movement of the pin 13. Hence, the motion of the pistonrod during the latter part of the power stroke is transferred through areduction leverage so that a comparatively long movement of the pistonis converted into a powerful short movement of the press head.

The cylinder is preferably a single acting c linder and the flow of airor other motive uid thereof is controlled in any suitable manner as byhandles designated 16, there being two handles both of which mustbeoperated during the closing of the press in order to keep both hands outofdanger of being caught in the press. The control of the motive fluidto the cylinder forms no part of this invention and is unnecessary to anunderstanding thereof.

The press is opened and the parts restored to their starting positionsby a counterbalance spring 17 suitably connected to a shaft 18 to turnthe same, the shaft having a winding drum 19 thereon which is connectedby a b cable 20 to the lower arm of the lever 5. During ,theclosing ofthe press by power, obvioiisly, the spring will be tensioned and whenthe power is released in the cylinder 10,

will react and open the press. From t e foregoing it will be seen that Iprovide operating means including a motor 10 with aspring and wind upreturn means 1720 connected to the press head 2 for opening and closingthe press, together with a characteristic operating connection or link.

means of compact and short/form which is its effective length during isthat, although the motor piston rod 9 is adapted to traverse thedistance of its stroke at {a substantially uniform expenditure of power,the speed at which the press head is operated varies with respectthereto. This motor means 10 and its variable leverage means 1112therefore possesses the advantage of a high-speed drive for the presshead 2 during the closing of the press, whereupon a low-speed driveautomatically comes into over the press head.

The variation in speed ratio'between the movement of the piston rod 9and the press head 2 is clearly shown in Figure 1 wherein the gears 11make approximately a half revolution while the piston rod pin 9traverses approximately two-thirds of its forward or power stroke, andthe travel of lever means 5 and press head 2 is equal to the travel ofthe piston rod plus the horizontal forward travel of the crank pin 13 ofthe operating connections. Moreover, while the piston rod 9 iscontinuing its forward or outward stroke and'traversing the remainder orfinal one-third of its stroke, the gears 11 for approxiout or forwardpower stroke of the motor means 10 as hereinbefore described.

It is clear therefore that a long piston out stroke is translated into ashort press head squeezing movement by reason of the starting of thereverse or subtracting movement of the crank pin 13 at the time the head2 reaches the press buck 1. The result is that the mechanical advantageor leverage of the motor means is considerably greater during final jawcompression than w en the motor meaips is swinging the press head towardthe The press operating mechanism here shown is particularly adapted tobe mounted in a small chamber or housing space wholly within the bleed asmall size pressing machine. This operating means for driving a presslever means back and forth is small and com act with relatively shortparts and is especially well adapted to small size presses and bench-tye presses. The latter type of press has a at face or smooth bottom framemeans adapted to rest on a bench or table of standard height above thefloor with thepress buck 1 close to the frame base 4. Such frame meansnecessarily does not afford any too much room in which to easily lay outandassemble long lever means or a long-travel toggle. This novel andcompact short length motion transmitting mechanism combines well withthe type of frame shown and is unique in its organization in and withthe small and rather crowded press frame or hollow base 4.

Although the somewhat crowded or limited space frame 4 is found toconstitute a marked advantage in numerous uses and plant requirements,its adoption presented a problem as to a simple and correspondinglysmall size motor means capable of high initial velocity coupled withample subsequent power to exert great jaw compression. That problem issolved with this motor means because its component parts may be madesmall and light weight, the distances between pivotal and bearingcenters are shorter, and the operation of the machine is not undulyhampered by momentum and inertia. Hence the problem of stopping andstarting the machine is an easier one due to less mass traveling overshorter distances.

ciprocating prime mover,an oscillating driven element, connectionsbetween the prime mover and the driven element comprising a gear mountedon the reciprocating prime mover and having a rocking movement, aneccentric pin on the gear arranged when in starting position between theaxis of the gearand theprime mover and movable through more than onehalf of a revolution and approxin'iately three quarters of a revolutionduring the rocking of the gear and the movement of the prime mover inone direction, means for rocking.

the gear comprising a stationary rack with which the p1n1on meshes, anda link connecting the eccentric pin and the oscillating drivmecha-nismbetween the rod and said arm including an element movable with the rodand also relatively thereto during the movement of the rod, and meansconnecting said elementand the lever arm to transmit the combinedmovement of said element with the rod plus the relative movement of saidelement to the lever arm.

3. A pressing machine comprising a hollow base, a buck mounted on thebase, a head movable toward and from the' base, a lever carrying thehead pivoted intermediate of its ends to the base and having an armextending into the base, actuating means for said lever located in thebase including a reciprocating prime mover and connections between theprime mover and said arm comprising a rotatable member movable with theprime mover during the reciprocating movement thereof, a link pivoted atone end eccentrically to the rotatable member and at its other end tosaid arm, and means for rolling said member during the reciprocatingmovement thereof.

4. A garment or ironing press comprising a frame including a hollow baseadapted to rest upon a table surface of standard height, a buck mountedupon said base, a movable press head above the buck, lever means securedto the press head, means for producing a reciprocating motion locatedwholly inside the hollow base under the buck and above the tablesurface, operating connections located above the table surface toconnect the motion producing means with the lever means, said operatingconnections comprising combination rotary and reciprocatory meansadapted to move the press head faster during its initial movement fromopen to closed-press position than during the latter portion of saidmovement.

5. A garment or ironing press comprising a frame including a hollow baseadapted to rest upon a table surface, a support bracket rising from thebase, a press buck mounted upon said bracket, a movable press head abovethe buck,- lever means having one end secured to the press head andtheother end directed downwardly into the base, a piston and cylindermounted in the hollow base in parallel proximity to and above the tablesurface but below the support bracket, short operating connectionsarranged between the piston and the lever means to close the press, andmeans to open the press including a pulling member having one endthereof anchored to the downwardly directed end of the lever means, saidpulling member being mounted substantially parallel to the cylinder andwithin the hollow base, and means associated with the other end of thepulling member to exert a pull on the lever means.

6. A garment or ironing press adapted to rest upon a bench or table andcomprising a hollow base. a buck mounted on the base,

"a press head movable toward and from the buck,'lever means having oneend attached to the press head the other end curveddow rwardly into thebase, motor meansmounted in said base, operating connections between thelever means and the motor means to: close the press, and means to openthe press including a pulling member disposed adjacent the motor meansand arranged parallel and above the table surface and connected at oneend thereof to the curved end of the lever means, the other end of thepulling member being directed toward the front of the press, and springmeans cooperating with the last named end of the pulling member to exerta press-opening force on the lever means.

7. A garment or ironing press comprising a frame, a buck supported onthe frame, a press head movable toward and from the buck, lever means onone end of,which the press head is carried, motor means mounted in theframe, an operating connection between the motor means and the levermeans to close the press; and means to open the press comprising a shaftournalled in the frame, a

helical spring around the shaft and having one end thereof secured tothe shaft to rotate therewith and the other spring end anchored to thebase in a stationary manner, a drum secured to the shaft, a flexiblepull connection having one end wound about and secured to the drum andthe other end secured to said,

lever means, whereby the movement of the motor means to close the pressdraws out wardly on the flexible pull connection which rotates the drumand shaft to tension the spring for opening the press.

8. A garment or ironing pressadapted to rest upon a table surface, apair of coacting press jaws including a press head and buck mounted upona frame, said frame including a hollow base under the jaws, lever meansfor opening and closing the press jaws, one end of the lever means beingsecured to the head and swingably disposed above the buck and the otherend thereof extending below and behind the jaws, said lever meanscomprising a curved member with its rear end swingably disposed withinthe hollow base and adapted to be directed forwardly toward the front ofthe press, and operating means mounted wholly within the hollow baseunder the buck in horizontal alignment with the table surface and closeto the lower forwardly directed end of the lever nieans, and short linkmeans connected between the lever means and the operating means toenable said operating means to actuate the press head.

9. A garment 01' ironing press adapted to rest upon a table or benchmeans as a support, and having a pair of flat horizontally disposedcoacting press jaws mounted upon a frame, said jaws comprising astationary buck and a movable head, and said frame including a hollowbase, lever means secured to the head for opening and closing the pressjaws by moving the head to and from the buck; and a fluid-pressure motormounted within the base of the frame and under the press jaws andincluding a cylinder, a piston and a connecting rod disposed in ahorizontal position above the table support but under the press aws andwithin the hollow base and adapted to traverse the distance of itsstroke at a substantially uniform rate of expenditure of motive energy;in combination with variable speed short link means connected betweenthe lever means and the connecting rod, whereby said rod is adapted tomove the head rapidly during the initial portion of its movementto aidthe buck and during the remainder of said movement to move the headslowly until it, presses upon said buck.

10. A garment or ironing press having a frame, comprising a hollowflat-bottomed base adapted to rest upon a table surface, a support onthe hollow base, a buck on the support, and a press head above the buck,in combination with operating means to actuate the press head to andfrom the buck, said operating means including amotor' mounted whollywithin the base under the support and in proximity to the table surface,a'lever pivotally mounted on the frame intermediate its ends and havingone end secured to the press head and the other end projectingdownwardly into said hollow base, and short length means mounted withinthe hollow base and operatively connecting the lever to said motor andthrough which the motor actuates the press head to and from the buck.

11. A garment or ironing press comprising a hollow base having a flat bttom face, coacting press jaws disposed above the base,

operating means to open and close the press including motor meanslocated wholly within the base above the bottom of the hollow base,lever means attached at one end thereof to one press jaw, the other endof the lever means curving rearwardly from the press jaws and reachingdownwardly below the aws and terminating within the hollow base inproximity to the plane in which the motor means is located, incombination with a short-length operating connection between the motormeans and the lever means, said operating connections being adapted tomove the press head faster than the motor means during the initial partof the press head movement from open to closed-press position and slowerthan the motor means during the latter portion of said movement.

12. A garment or ironing press adapted to rest upon a table and havingcoacting press jaws, a frame, said frame including a hollow base, levermeans attached to one jaw for opening and closing the press, and a motormeans including a cylinder disposed in a horizontal position within thebase of the frame and under the press jaws, a piston rod adapted totraverse the horizontal dis tance of its stroke under a substantiallyuniform expenditure of motive force, in combination with an operatingconnection be tween the piston rod and lever means, said operatingconnection comprising a gear rack mounted in the base, gear meansrotatab1ymounted on the piston rodvin engagement with and adapted to berotated by the gear rack as said piston rod is moved back and forth bythe motor, a crank pin carried eccentrica-llv on the gear means andhaving an effective orizontal movement with respect to the piston rod;and a link connected between said crank pin and lever means, Whereby themovement transmitted to said lever means during a part of the powerstroke of the piston rod is substantially equal to the forwardhorizontal movement of'the piston rod plus the forward horizontalmovement of the crank pin which moves the press jaw quickly towardclosed position, and the movement transmitted to said lever means duringthe remaining part of the power stroke of the piston rod issubstantially equal to the forward horizontalmovement of the piston rodminus the backward horizontal movementof the crank pin which forces thepress jaw slowly onto the work to produce jaw compresslon. I

13. A garment or ironing press comprising a hollow base having aflathorizontal bottom adapted to rest upon a table of standard height,said base including a shallow horizontal chamber, a hollow uprightrising from the rear portion of-said chamber, and a cover closely spacedabove and substantially parallel to the flat horizontal bottom anddisposed above the chamber and having an upwardly extending curved rearportion closing the front of the hollow upright; a support mounted uponthe base and carrying a buck;

' cupy a position close to the upwardly extended cover; motor meansmounted wholly within the shallow horizontal chamber above the table foractuating the lever means, said motor means including cylinder andpiston rod means disposed under the buck and having an operativeconnection between the lower end of the lever means and the motor meansfor swinging the press head toward the buck; and spring means within thehollow base to open the press.

14. A garment or ironing press comprising a hollow base having a flathorizontal bottom adapted to rest upon a table. of standard height, saidbase including a shallow horizontal chamber, a hollow upright risingfrom the rear portion of said chamber, and a cover closely spaced aboveandsubstantially parallel to the flat horizontal bottom and disposedabove the chamber and having an upwardly extendin curved rear portionclosing the front of the hollow upright; a support mounted upon the baseand carrying a buck; a movable press head above the buck; lever meansoperatively carried by the upright, with a forwardly extended leverportion attached to the head, and with a downwardly extended rear endcurved into the hollow upright behind the cover and adapted to occupy aposi tion close to the upwardly extended cover;

motor means mounted wholly within the shallow horizontal chamber abovethe table for actuating the lever means, said motor means includingcylinder and piston rod means disposed under the buck and having anoperative connection between the lower end of the lever means and themotor means for swinging the press head toward the buck, said operativeconnection embodying means for increasing the force of the mechanismafter the press head reaches the buck; and spring means within thehollow base to open the press.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ERNEST DAVIS.

